Cast: Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez and Kata Dobb
Director: Katja Von Garnier
Release Date: January 26, 2007
Rating: PG-13, for violence/terror, some sexuality and substance abuse
THREE STARS
Blood and Chocolate is the non-critically acclaimed movie that takes place in Bucharest and tells the story of nineteen-year-old Vivian Gandillon played by Agnes Bruckner. One small problem — she’s a werewolf. Mixed in with her problems of howling at the moon, she manages to fall in love with an American artist that is (shock) human. She must choose between keeping her family’s secret and being with her true love.
Overall, this movie is not as bad as most critics have said though, I must admit I have not read the book. Critics have said that it lacks in plot, acting and special effects, and I must disagree.
The plot is entertaining, though not very original as far as werewolf movies go. If you have seen Underworld you will have a very weird sense of dejavu while watching this movie. It does have very interesting twists in it, such as the play on blood and chocolate.
As far as the acting goes, this movie will most definitely not be nominated for an Oscar, but the talent was OK, especially for a werewolf movie.
The special effects in this movie were lacking simply because there were very few of them. Coming from a generation of films where effects and CGI are all over the place, it was almost relaxing to watch a movie that had none. It was also very entertaining and pleasant to watch the beautiful real wolves that they used for the scenes involving werewolves.
This movie is worth the price of a matinee movie, but waiting for it to come out on DVD would also not be a bad idea. It’s definitely worth seeing!